Approximately 171 million hectares of land in the European Union (EU), of which 34900 hectares in Cyprus, ie about 40% of the total EU area (0,3% in Cyprus), were used for agricultural production in 2016, supporting about 10,3, XNUMX million agricultural holdings (farms, farms, etc.), according to data published today by Eurostat,
Eurostat reports that most of the EU farms are small in nature, two thirds of which are less than 5 hectares (ha). By contrast, 3% of EU farms are 100 hectares or more in size and occupied more than half of the EU agricultural land used.
In addition, Eurostat records that only 11% of farm managers in the EU were under the age of 40, while 32% were aged 65 and over. Young farmers were particularly limited in Cyprus (3,3% of all farm managers), Portugal (4,2%) and the United Kingdom (5,3%). However, there were more Austria (22,2%), Poland (20,3%) and Slovakia (19,0%). However, younger managers tend to have larger farms in terms of area, livestock and standard production than older ones (over 65).
The farmer profession is dominated by men, while only three of the ten (29%) farm managers are women. The percentage of new farm managers who were women was even lower (23%).
One third of EU farms were located in Romania in 2016 (33%), while a third in Poland (14%), Italy (10% in 2013) and Spain (9%).
In addition, 7% of farms over 50 hectares employed just over two thirds (68%) of the EU agricultural land use (UAA).
The differences in the size of the holdings are also reflected in terms of their financial size. Of the 10,3 million EU farms, 4,0 million had a standard production of less than € 2 and are responsible for only 000% of total agricultural economic production. In addition, 1 agricultural holdings (or 296000% of all holdings) in the EU produced standard production of EUR 3 or more and are responsible for 250000% of the EU's total agricultural economic output. Half (55%) of standard production produced by Agriculture in the EU comes from farms in France (54%), Germany (17%), Italy (13% in 12) and Spain (2013%). One third of EU farms accounted for only 11% of EU standard products.
Finally, Eurostat reports that France used 27,8 million hectares for agricultural purposes in 2016, the largest area of any Member State (16% of the EU as a whole). Another 23,2 million hectares were cultivated in Spain (14%), 16,7 million hectares in the United Kingdom (10%), 15,2 million hectares in Germany (9%) and 14,4 million hectares in Poland (8%) .
Agricultural landscapes have dominated the countryside in some Member States. 72% of Ireland's land was used as agricultural land, while the share was also particularly high in Denmark (62%), in stark contrast to Finland (8%) and Sweden (7%), where the forest was predominant, as well as and Cyprus (by 12%).
Source: KYPE